Fifth Groningen earthquake in a week registers 2.2 on Richter scale

An earthquake registering 2.2 on the Richter Scale struck the village of Garrelsweer near Loppersum in Groningen province on Sunday evening. It was the fifth light earthquake in the northernmost province within a week, NRC said on Monday morning.

There was a quake registering 1.7 in the village of Scharmer on Saturday and three other lighter quakes earlier in the week, the Dutch meteorigical institute KNMI said. The quakes were felt by nearby residents.

Gas production company NAM completely halted extraction of gas from the area around Loppersum on Friday, following recommendations from the state mines authority.

It had called for a halt to gas extraction near Loppersum and said the total volume of gas being extracted from under the province should be almost halved. The recommendations were made in response the sharpest quake in five years near Zeerijp in January.